America's Impact On The Space Race

Throughout history people have strived to improve technology and discover more information about the world and its universe. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States competed against each other in order to prove they were superior in space exploration. Being the first to send a satellite into space or land a man on the moon ultimately demonstrates advanced science programs, technology, and economic status. Therefore when the Soviet Union launched the first hand made satellite, the United States raced to build, test, and launch one of their own. After several failures, the United States had their first success on March 17, 1958 and within the next few months, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded.
NASA is an independent agency for the United States government that works with scientists and astronauts in order to collect aeronautics and aerospace research. Scientists have continually worked to learn more about the Earth, solar system, and outer universe. To do this, NASA has spent immense time and money in successfully launching various rockets and satellites. However, not all missions have been a success and numerous projects resulted in injuries that have worried citizens. Regardless, since 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has shown to have significantly impacted society and contributed towards technological advancements through its role in the space race and moon landing, its numerous life changing missions and discoveries, and by actively developing future projects.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was founded during the 1957 to 1975 space race between the Soviet Union and United States and soon began changing society with the world's first moon landing. A crisis emerged in America after “the successful launch of the 183-pound Sputnik I satellite into orbit by the Soviet Union, followed by the half-ton Sputnik II on November 3, which carried a live dog into orbit” (Spradley). By sending a dog into orbit, the Soviet Union’s intentions of sending humans into orbit became apparent. Not only were Americans concerned about falling behind in modern technology, but they feared that the Soviets were capable of building missiles that could carry nuclear weapons to the United States. After WWII ended, German Scientists were brought to America to help build a rocket. This committee was lead by Wernher Von Braun and made significant progress, however President Dwight D. Eisenhower was concerned about how the public would react to the launching of a military rocket made by Nazi scientists. And for this reason, an incomplete rocket
from the Viking Program was launched on December 6th, 1957. Unfortunately, the rocket was a failure as it fell back to Earth’s surface after only lifting a short distance and its Vanguard satellite fell off of the rocket. A little more than a month later, the Explorer 1 satellite was launched on January 31, 1958 and “quickly led to discovery of Earth’s radiation belts. This first American satellite circled the globe 58,000 times before reentering the atmosphere over the Pacific in 1970” (Fisher). The launch of Explorer 1 proved to the world that the United States’ technology could compete against Russia in the Space Race. The rocket orbited earth collecting data about micrometeorites, rays, and Earth’s atmospheric temperature. One of the instruments built into Explorer 1 was designed the measure radiation, however it’s results showed that the level of radiation in Earth's orbit would rise significantly before dropping down to zero. After reviewing these results, Dr. James Van Allen suspected that the Explorer 1 had found a spot in Earth’s orbit where charged particles are trapped together due to the planets magnetic field. Ultimately, the Explorer 1 discover what is now known as the Van Allen radiation belt. This successful mission essentially demonstrated the United States capabilities and helped scientists better understand Earth’s orbit. However, the Soviet Union continued to outshine the United States and it was clear that the US needed an agency responsible for focusing on not only matching but going above Russia’s space and flight abilities. Knowing that NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, was not experienced enough, “President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. The act created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)... NASA opened for business on October 1, 1958” (Spangenburg and Moser 18). NASA is responsible for a variety of things including the science and technology behind space exploration and aeronautics. Its headquarters were placed in Washington D.C. and it immediately began focusing on space exploration. Within the next few years, the Apollo Program was created with the purpose of continuing Eisenhower’s goal of advancing the United States’ technological capabilities.
While there have been numerous programs created by NASA, the Apollo Program was extremely successful and resulted in nearly a dozen spaceflights and the moon landing, making it NASA’s greatest accomplishment in the 1960’s. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy inaugurated the Apollo Program with the goal of beating the Soviet Union and landing humans on the moon. The program consisted of 17 missions to “determine the history of the moon, to precisely map its surface, and to locate magnetic fields, sources of heat, and volcanic and seismic activity” (Mishra 781). NASA designed and built three different modules for the Apollo Program: the Apollo Command Module and the Lunar Module. The Apollo Command Module can be compared to the size of a car and allowed for three astronauts to walk around, while the Lunar Module could only carry two astronauts and was used to orbit and land on the moon. The Apollo Program used two different rockets as well; the Saturn IB for Earth orbits because it was smaller and the Saturn V for larger, farther flights because it was more powerful. Of the 17 missions, some crashed and were destroyed, killing its crew members and allowing people to question the programs safety. For instance, Apollo 13’s liquid oxygen tank exploded due lack of insulation and rather than landing on the moon, it had to orbit and return back to Earth. However, other missions were successfully launched, allowing data to be collected and discoveries to be made. The Apollo 7 was the first manned spacecraft and launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida while the Apollo 12 brought rocks back from the moon to be tested and experimented on. NASA’s greatest accomplishment in the 1960’s was the Apollo 11 mission, launched from “Florida's Kennedy Space Center with Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, and Michael Collins onboard… On July 20, 1969 the lunar module landed safely on the moon” (Spangenburg and Moser 17). As nearly six million people watched the landing, Neil Armstrong’s first step marked one of greatest scientific achievements of all time. Without NASA, the moon landing would have never occurred and the world would be lacking important information. For instance, the three astronauts walked on the moon for two hours and twenty one minutes exploring, gathering items, and planting a seismometer that would record future data. Armstrong and Aldrin collected a total of fifty pounds of lunar rocks, sand, and dust for later experiments. Since then, NASA has spent immense time on numerous space projects that have provided integral information about the world and universe. With countless missions and discoveries, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, NASA has shown to have provided a vital role in advancing American scientific fields and technology.
Not only did The Apollo Program prove NASA’s capabilities, but other space projects have also had significant accomplishments. Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, various spacecrafts were sent into space to explore the Earth, Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter. NASA’s Discovery program, one of their low cost missions that focuses on the solar system, sent the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990 to orbit Earth and take photographs of its atmosphere. The photos taken by Hubble “revolutionized ideas about the universe, contributing to the discovery of dark energy, a force that caused the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate, and the discovery and characterization of planets outside the solar system” (Flynn). For centuries, humans have had limited knowledge about space and the planets that occupy it, however, The Hubble Space Telescope expanded the world’s knowledge on astronomy. Voyager 1 and 2 were also used to explore the outer parts of the solar system, and due to the lack of sunlight, they used radioactive decay to produce electrical power, rather than solar panels. Voyager 2 launched on August 1977 and the evidence it colleded “supported notions that Europa could support an ocean underneath its thick ice and that even aquatic life might exist
there” while Voyager 1 was sent a month later and “discovered three new moons and dark spokes that appear above [Saturn’s] ring plane, and produced data suggesting that small moonlets shepherd ring particles” (Fisher). With these discoveries, the two spacecrafts reshaped peoples views on the solar system. By sending Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to the different planets, people are able to open up their minds to other possibilities such as aquatic life on one of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Without a question, these programs “demonstrated that humans could function in space without any significant negative reactions, that rendezvous and docking operations between spacecraft were possible, that spacecraft could successfully reenter the atmosphere, and that spacecraft could successfully take humans to the moon” (Brady and Lawson 828). NASA has not only thought of thousands of different missions, but has even orchestrated their launches that have lead to important discoveries. Many have brought back crucial photos and data that has not only allowed scientists to learn more but has brought up additional follow up questions and curiosities. Even tree years ago, NASA sent the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to Mars on September 28, 2015 with the hopes of finding water on mars. In fact, the MRO was used to “observe mysterious dark streaks on Martian hillsides which appear to ebb and flow over time. The steaks darken in the warm season, when temperatures can exceed -10 F” (Back in Time: Space exploration (2015)). This means that when Mars experiences warmer weathers, there are small amounts of water that flows on its surface. After this incredible discovery and the desire to learn more about Mars and our own earth, NASA has several planned launches for 2018. These missions will study various topics including Mars, stars, the sun’s fireballs, and Earth’s atmosphere, gravity, and weather. Ultimately, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration continues to prove that their research and programs are necessary for the world’s improvement.